Greetings good people, a hardware question this time. I have gentoo running as a misc server for various small tasks on an old Pentium 166. Now the cpu fan is pretty noisy and I've heard you can run Duron's up to 1GHz fanless so I thought maybe mine was surplus to requirement. Apparently there are two, one cpu fan and one in the front of the case, both quite small (5x5cm or so), do you think I could do without them?

And if you answer, please know what you are talking about. Thanks a lot!

I have a pentium 133 that has been retired, save for being a backup mail server. The CPU fan went south about 3 months ago, and its still going. Its really pretty worthless, so I just thought if it goes it goes, if not.. well thts OK too.

Not exactly an endorsement, but I'd look into getting a big big heat sink and giving it a go whilst monitoring the temp.

Now the cpu fan is pretty noisy and I've heard you can run Duron's up to 1GHz fanless so I thought maybe mine was surplus to requirement. Apparently there are two, one cpu fan and one in the front of the case, both quite small (5x5cm or so), do you think I could do without them?

Running a CPU fanless depends on a lot of factors -- how hard you're driving it, what the ambient temperature is of the case and what sort of airflow you have over the CPU heatsink. (btw, you do need a heatsink, either way)

Assuming your overall goal is to reduce the noise that this system puts out, I would look at getting rid of both fans and replacing them with one, large 80mm fan. (under $5 at any decent electronics/computer store) Larger fans push more air and tend to run quieter (or at least without that high-pitched whine that the smaller fans emit) If the 80mm fan is positioned correctly so it puts out good air flow over the CPU, then you should be fine. Make sure the airflow isn't obstructed and make sure the fan acts as an intake fan, rather than an exhaust fan.

Ideally, you put the 80mm fan in the front of your case and then make sure there's enough venting holes in the back of the case to ensure good airflow.

--kurt_________________The problem with political jokes is that they get elected

If you're really daring, you could try a peltier cooler. Or build a refrigeration unit yourself. Basic thermodynamics, man. The only problem is: you can move the heat somewhere else....But then how do you get rid of it? Lots and lots of surface area in a well-ventilated area.

Good luck with that. If you want to go the DIY way and have no experience with refrigeration cycles, let me know. I'd be happy to fill you in._________________Get Firefox!

Durons have a very small die size. This means that the "transistors per sq inch" ratio is really high, thus they run very hot. I would strongly caution against running one of these fanless.

If noise is a concern, what I would do is get a fan adapter for the CPU heatsink, which will let you run a larger fan on it. Larger fans run at slower speeds to provide the same cooling, thus generally quieter. If you also get a speed adjustable fan, you can dial it down even further, so that you still get air circulating through the cpu heatsink, but barely above the ambient noise threshold...

Pick high quality fans with low dbA ratings... Bigger fan = better, lower RPM = better. Combine this with intelligent case cooling (a clear air path from one end of box to the other) and you'll have a pretty quiet box..._________________Linux user off and on since circa 1995

Of course, you could always downgrade. I remember having a 486-33/SX that didn't even come with a heat sink. Yeah that's right. An SX. No math co-processor. What a POS. Of course, it didn't help that it was a Packard Bell._________________Get Firefox!

I have a pentium 133 that has been retired, save for being a backup mail server. The CPU fan went south about 3 months ago, and its still going. Its really pretty worthless, so I just thought if it goes it goes, if not.. well thts OK too.

Not exactly an endorsement, but I'd look into getting a big big heat sink and giving it a go whilst monitoring the temp.

kbb

I have an old pentium 133, which was running OpenBSD as my firewall. One day the cpu-fan broke and I started getting kernel panics Took me some time to realize that it was a cooling problem. Fortunately I found an old 486-fan and got it back up running. The buddy just finished a gentoo stage 1 install so I think I can say that it runs stable Maybe a case fan close to it would have done the trick too, but I didn't have one around to try it out. Guess you had more luck